Sustainability, smushstainability

There is a real turf battle going on over setting sustainability standards; this much is clear. Why do I say this? Of course, we have been waiting on a coalition of industry associations and NGOs to unveil their stewardship/sustainability index since PMA. I simply can't believe it takes this long to tweak a news release. Well, I received another news release from the Leonardo Academy the other day and here is their update, in full. Pay particular attention to the part about the Dec. 17 appeal hearing before the exec committee of the American National Standards Institute and the link that provides records of the correspondence between USDA, Leonardo and ANSI. From Leonardo Academy:

Standards Committee Task Force Kick-Off Teleconferences -- At its first meeting in September, the Standards Committee voted to form six Task Forces that will work to define the need for and vision of the SCS-001 process and to gather additional data and resources for guiding the standard development work ahead. After several weeks of planning and coordination, the Task Forces are now in a position to begin their work. The Task Force kick-off teleconferences will take place on Friday, December 12th and Monday, December 15th. A meeting schedule and agenda is available here. Because the Task Forces will be populated by the Standards Committee, these meetings are open to full participation by Standards Committee members only. Anyone interested in participating as an observer should contact amanda@leonardoacademy.org by Thursday, December 11th.

Update on Status of All Draft American National Standards for Trial Use (DSTUs) -- On October 2, 2008, ANSI announced that "Annex B: Draft American National Standards for trial use" of the ANSI Essential Requirements would be eliminated as an option for announcing standard development projects through ANSI. Furthermore, existing documents that are labeled or promoted as "Draft American National Standards for Trial Use" may no longer carry that label or be promoted as such. Deletion of Annex B does not preclude an ANSI- Accredited Standards Developer from developing, approving and disseminating its own standards for trial use, however. Any documents that were originally filed as "Draft American National Standards for Trial Use" no longer have recognized status through ANSI but can still be retained as draft standards for trial use within a standard developer's own system.

In keeping with the actions required by ANSI regarding the elimination of Annex B, Leonardo Academy has: 1) revised its standard development procedures to eliminate the DSTU option through ANSI (revised procedures are pending approval by ANSI), 2) removed all references to "Draft American National Standard for Trial Use" on existing DSTUs that have been announced as such and 3) filed a PINS to continue the development process for any document previously filed as a Draft American National Standard for Trial Use. In addition, Leonardo Academy will no longer refer to any standard under development as a "Draft American National Standard for Trial Use."

How does this affect SCS-001? -- The Standards Committee voted at its meeting in September to set aside the SCS-001 draft standard for consideration as one of many reference documents in the process to develop an American National Standard for Sustainable Agriculture Practice. Leonardo Academy further committed to filing a PINS to allow the SCS-001 standard development process to move forward. In keeping with this commitment and with the Annex B elimination requirements, Leonardo Academy filed a PINS for SCS-001 on November 11, 2008, and official notification was made in the November 28th issue of ANSI Standards Action. Furthermore, all references to "Draft American National Standard for Trial Use" on the SCS-001 Sustainable Agriculture Practice Draft Standard document have been removed. Click here to view the updated document. The standard development process for SCS-001 will continue to move forward as a candidate for an American National Standard through ANSI's PINs process.

ANSI Hearing Regarding USDA Appeal Scheduled for December 17th - On September 12, 2008, the US Department of Agriculture submitted an appeal to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) requesting that 1) ANSI withdraw Leonardo Academy's accreditation as a developer of American National Standards and that 2) the Draft Standard for Trial Use titled Sustainable Agriculture Practice Standard for Food, Fiber and Biofuel Crop Producers and Agricultural Product Handlers and Processors (SCS-001) be withdraw from further consideration as a DSTU or as the basis for an American National Standard. Our response to the appeal was submitted to ANSI on October 3rd. Copies of the USDA's appeal and Leonardo Academy's response, as well as the formal correspondence between the USDA and Leonardo, can be found at the Leonardo Academy website: http://www.leonardoacade my.org/Projects/SustainAgStdDevelopment.htm.

Leonardo Academy believes that the appeals process is an important part of the ANSI standard development process as it allows affected parties to voice areas of concern with a particular standard under development. The appeals process also allows the standard developer to learn how it can improve its process for developing standards. Leonardo Academy has worked hard to follow all of the requirements of the ANSI Essential Requirements and the ANSI- approved Leonardo Academy Standards Development Constitution throughout our engagement in the SCS-001 standard development process, and thus we are taking the USDA's appeal very seriously. The hearing at which the ANSI Executive Standards Council (ExSC) will address the appeal is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 17th. We will keep you informed of our engagements with ANSI and the USDA in the effort to resolve this issue.

TK: My bet is we won't see or hear anything about the fledgling stewardship/sustainability index until after Dec. 17. If the Leonardo Academy is out of the picture after Dec. 17, then a new, more tightly focused standard setting process may begin....

Remember our troops

I was reading an email newsletter from Rep. Adam Putnam. While the bulk of the letter was about the bailout plan and the farm bill, I appreciated that Putnam and his staff included a link to a Web site where anyone can go and write an encouraging word to our troops. Here is the link.

Putnam put it well: "These acts of kindness and remembrance mean a lot to our troops and they appreciate knowing the American people back home are thinking about them." I took the opportunity to send a message to our troops and hope you do as well.

Dec. 10 - Top headlines

Still haven't seen the third quarter retail numbers from United Fresh and the Perishables Group, but a discussion with Gary Lucier of USDA ERS makes me think we could see some volume declines in fresh produce movement in the third quarter and into the fourth. Of course Gary is a vegetable specialist, but one might think that fruit shipments may also be inhibited in the current economic climate. More on that later.

Also, I was browing the Foodsafe discussion group list and saw this item:

EggSell, the UK based egg marketing Co-operative has introduced an insurance scheme for producers. The policy is designed to protect producers against the loss incurred by salmonella infections and the threat of Avian Influenza. The policy has been prepared by a leading insurance business and any producer who is interested in protecting their business from these commercially damaging threats can contact the team at EggSell to arrange
an assessment and quote.

A follow on comment wondered if the insurer is requiring any preventive measures from policy holders and when a policy like this will come to the U.S......

Meanwhile, here are some headlines snatched from the Web...

Organic farming may be best route to global food security Story based on this Rodale Institute report, "The Organic Green Revolution."
This news release touts the organic agenda. From the story:

An Organic Green Revolution, using integrated farming practices such as cover crops, organic no-till and composting, not only substantially improves yields but it also protects and restores soil and environmental health."Yield data just by itself makes the case for a focused and persistent move to organic farming systems," explains Dr. Tim LaSalle, co-author of the report and CEO of the Rodale Institute, a 60-year-old research and education nonprofit.

NRA Menu Trends News release covering highlights of NRA Food Trends survey.

FreshDirect producing fail-safe method for choosing the best fruits and vegetables Story details rating system that give online buyers more direction. From 5 star- never better, to 4 - great, delicious, 3 - good, reliably decent, 2- average inconsistent quality, generally OK, 1 - below average, expect wide inconsistency in quality, probably out of season. I like this concept, but really, I wonder how many consumers will buy "1 star" produce and how often FreshDirect will slap that label on a luckless carton of produce?

UK retail market share: the latest numbers

Dole agrees to pay EU fine in installments Expected to pay EU banana price fixing fine in installments by April; deadline had been January.



Banana prices up AP story says banana prices in October and November rose 35% in North America on generally flat volume. Revenue from Fresh Express salads rose 8% year over year in October November and volume fell 1%.

Recession prompts some couples to delay having kids LA Times does a good job with this piece, and quotes upset and anxious parents who struggle to pay bills and don't want to think of another mouth to feed.

Worst of recession is upon us Two forecasters believe the worst part of the recession is here. Should that make us feel better for 2009?

U.S. recession to span 2009 OECD says housing finance needs to be reformed. High income countries will contract by 0.1% next year; developing countries will grow 4.5%.

Britain a worse credit risk than McDonald's In Big Mac we trust. From the story in The Independent: The cost of buying insurance against default on UK five-year government debt became more expensive than the equivalent cover for the US burger chain

U.S. economy may trump Obama immigration pledge Rising unemployment could make the issue dicey, though some believe the Obama Administration will make a hard run at the issue at the end of next year. Ag gets ignored in this SF Chronicle article, amazingly.

Krogers warns of decline in fourth quarter profit One of better performing retailers forecasts growth next year from 3 percent to 5 percent, down from earlier projections of 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent.

Roubini and the liquidity trap Deflationary expectations have caused investors to accept zero returns on T-bills, being satisfied with merely getting their money back. He write the government's TARP program has been ineffective: Nevertheless, banks continue to hoard all the liquidity the central bank is injecting directly instead of lending it out (i.e. Fed is 'pushing on a string').

Housing market will roar back in 2009 So says one research report...

Regulators scratch head over housing crisis On the other hand....

Australian market open again to NZ tomatoes, peppers